Thursday, October 30, 2014

WINTER IS COMING...but seriously....

Wowza! It has been WAY to long since I have sat down at my computer to write an update on my life her in the Swiss-land.

I guess I want to start with saying again how grateful I am to be in such an amazing place to play the sport I love. It is amazing that there is so much to do by just getting on a train. Half the time we don't even have plans and everything just always seems to fall into place. The weather when I wrote you last was still amazing. Warmer day with crisp nights. Fall was in the air.

We took our last trip of the preseason to a little country called Austria. We drove there which was long, but nothing short of amazing. The view from the car were beyond gorgeous. I tried to take pictures but nothing could really show just how pretty it was. We did well and won all four of our games that we played in while there. We went literally under a mountain range. We were in a tunnel for 30 minutes at least!

After we got home we had a free day and my good friend Peter happened to face book me to let me know he was going to be Zurich on Tuesday! (October 14th) He was coming back from a trip with his family from South Africa and had a layover for about 5 hours. To say I was excited was an understatement. Peter happens to live with my boyfriend, so we all hung out all the time together and it was like having a little piece of home over here for a few hours. I had to get up at 5am to catch a train to get to them and only had a few hours but it was so worth it. Here are some pictures.

Coffee selfie on the train :)

His parents were so nice and took us to breakfast at an amazing breakfast place. Quiche and bagels with goat cheese. AH-mazing.

Peter, Evan and I overlooking the lake.

Pano from the bridge

There was a farmers market going on and everything was so colorful! Loved every second of it.

Pretty sunflowers

I want all of this

Fall :)

cool view. You can kiiinda see the Alps in the back...

Famous Church in Zurich

Chocolateeeeee

Where I was shopping the whole time, duh.

This really fun store I went into that had a bunch of fun stuff in it!

The boys. Miss them!

Goofs!

They had to catch their plane home around 1pm and I had the rest of the day to myself. I spent some time walking around and shopping but mostly spent my time at the Starbucks. We had a game that night about an hour train ride north of Zurich so I did not want to wear myself out. Also myself and the roomies were coming back to Zurich in a few days. We had 2 days off and were coming to explore again so I knew I would get more time to see the city.

We had our first game of regular season on October 18th. It felt good to finally be playing games that counted towards our season after a month and a half of preseason. We played against Toggenburg. We had gotten to see them a little bit at our home tourney a few weeks before and were excited to play them again. We ended up winning in four. It was not our best match but it was good for us to see what we needed to work on more for the rest of our upcoming games. Plus I am always a little nervous so I think we may have had some first game jitters and need to get those out.

We had the next two days off and we (Mayf and Dezzie and I) ended up getting a hotel in Zurich for a night so we could explore and see what we could find and not have to worry about coming back that night. We checked into the hotel, took a quick nap and then went out to find some adventure. While we were out we walked past a local bar. When we looked in, we saw people dressed up like they were going to Oktoberfest with big liters of beer. We wanted to come back later to see what that was for! We walked and shopped and enjoyed the rest of the day. When we came back to the bar, they had live music and it was crowded so we found a seat and ordered a round!

Mayf and I before getting on the train!

So much fun! Never had a beer this big.

Roomies!

Another view of the Church! We sat right on the river and ordered some warm drinks and food. The restaurant even had blankets for us to use.

Cause why not...

Another view of the river :)

We had a great time in Zurich but were excited to get back home and get ready for our next game against Neuchatel. Last year they got 3rd over all so we were really excited to play them and it was our first home game. We ended up losing to them in 4 and not playing our best volleyball as a team. This week we are going to focus on having really good practices mentally and physically so get ready for our next game on Saturday. Every game counts here because unlike where I have played before, Switzerland plays with points. If you win your match in 3 or 4 you get 3 points and the looser gets 0. If you win in 5, you get 2 points and if you lose in 5 you still get 1 point. At the end how many points you have determines your seed. We had some photos taken at our match. I will add those at the end. I am sure most of you have seen them on facebook.

Last week I had my first real taste of winter while being here. It was getting down to mid 30's- DURING THE DAY. Needless to say I was a little shocked on the way to and from practice (we walk) and how cold it was. I promptly bought a coat, scarf, gloves, hats, etc, etc to keep myself warm. I looked like a stuffed animal walking to practice, but hey. I was warm. Now this week it is back to normal. I have noticed that my "normal" has changed. Before last week, sweater weather was so cold. Now low 60's feels amazing! haha Funny how that can change so quickly. I am excited for the first snow though, which they say can be as early as mid November.

Here are some pictures from the match on Saturday.

Team Picture

I love being apart of a team and having the same goal in mind. We are a long way from where we can be but I am glad to see us making changes and working hard every day in practice. We have fire on the court that I have not felt for a long time and makes every day fun, which is why I continue to play this sport.